Technology Overview
The challenge of on-site laboratory diagnostics for valuable farm animals
The advantages of having accurate and timely diagnostic information on-site are readily apparent. The sooner the correct diagnosis is made, the sooner the appropriate therapy can begin. In the case of animal bioterrorism, the sooner the attack is detected, the sooner the appropriate counter-measures can be applied.
Today, most laboratory testing for valuable farm herds is conducted with expensive, highly complex instruments in clinical laboratories located far away from the animals. Such instruments require specially trained operating personnel. Different technologies are specific to the analysis required; e.g., a sophisticated laboratory will have a separate hematology analyzer, flow cytometer, chemistry analyzer and immuno-chemistry analyzer. The location of the laboratories, shipping time, and testing volume results in critical data being unavailable for hours or even days.
Given the above, on-site laboratory diagnosis for valuable farm herds is currently not an option. Stakeholders in this underserved industry need an accurate, effective and scientifically proven system that can provide rapid results.
The AAD Universal Diagnostic Platform™
AAD has licensed a fundamentally new technology in diagnostics, the Universal Diagnostic Platform™. This proven technology allows a small, simple, imaging-based single instrument and a variety of test specific disposables to perform clinical laboratory testing of:
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What enables this broad capability in the farm environment is the ability to perform hematology and cell analysis in a dry format. Previously, hematology and cell analysis have always required multiple fluid reagents, pumps and tubing, making it near impossible to manage in a barn environment.
Dry hematology and cell analysis is accomplished by the use of multiple wavelength fluorescence, digital imaging and analysis, a dry meta-chromatic stain and a unique patented plastic disposable. Thirteen patents describing the platform and the disposable have been issued, four more are pending and nine more are in various stages of development. Advanced Animal Diagnostics has the exclusive global licensing rights for the field of detection and monitoring of the presence of pathogenic agents in animal herds using blood, urine or milk as the analysis medium (specifically excluding microbiologic methods) and for the field of animal milk analysis.
At the heart of the technology is the use of multiple wavelength imaging to extract minute cytochemical, morphological and immunochemical changes in cells involved in the immune response.
The picture above illustrates the information from a single feature, green fluorescence, to categorize cell populations. The analysis engine of the UDP™ uses over 60 features to analyze the animal’s immune response.
The AAD UDP™ revolutionizes the diagnostic process and provides multiple benefits for the large community of veterinarians, animal owners/operators, their downstream customers, and government regulators. The solution creates a revolution through the streamlining of the testing process. Its benefits include:
- Requires no specialized operator training
- Enables rapid, accurate, cost effective diagnosis
- Requires little maintenance
- Requires no external reagents
- Generates no drain waste nor disposal issues with its patented dry disposables
- Utilizes microliter quantities of body fluids
- Produces results in minutes
Although AAD intends over time to explore the full potential of the single platform, we are initially focusing its major strengths of hematology and cellular analysis in three very specific applications:
- An on-site inflammatory cell differential on milk to be used for early detection of Mastitis disease, to create a more accurate predictor of milk production and give an improved measurement of milk quality.
- An on-site detection of cell-mediated immune response to specific bioterrorism pathogens.